LL Cool J, who is everywhere of late, starring on NCIS: Los Angeles, hosting the Grammy Awards, and today releasing his 13th studio album, Authentic. His “Kings of the Mic” tour kicks off in late May on the West Coast and runs through early July, wrapping things up at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Accompanying the prolific artist will be Ice Cube, Public Enemy, De La Soul, and DJ Z-Trip. [Read more…]
80’s pop goddess Cyndi Lauper will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of her landmark album, She’s So Unusual, with a 22-date tour of the United States, along with an appearance at Summer Sonic 2013 in Japan afterwards. [Read more…]
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, with Cheap Trick supporting on many dates, will hit major North American cities with their 43-date tour running June through August. VIP Platinum Packages are also being made available, with premium seats, meet and greet opportunities and more. [Read more…]
New Wave pioneers Pet Shop Boys today announced and put on sale dates for the U.S. leg of their upcoming world tour – their first appearance here in more than four years. Also today they have released a music video for “Axis”, off their upcoming album, Electric, due July 15th. [Read more…]
“I ain’t gonna waste a lot of time talking. All I’m gonna tell you is this… For the next two and a half hours, I promise to take you on a roller coaster ride you will never forget…” A pledge from the Bon Jovi front man, Jon Bon Jovi, about 15 minutes into their supporting act-free “An Evening With…” concert for their “Because We Can Tour” at the massive HP Pavilion in San Jose last night, which appeared near filled to its 17,496 capacity. Admittedly, I am not a dedicated Bon Jovi follower – I am a big fan of a handful of hits – so I don’t feel as though I was the intended audience. Having said that, I tried to imagine how I would take it all in if I were a fan, and I still find the roller coaster metaphor challenging to wrap my head around, as I found the show to be, for lack of a better description… ill-suited, and frankly boring… for such a large venue. While Richie Sambora did not make it through the tour to appear at this last date on the U.S. leg of their journey in support of the new What About Now album, I can’t imagine his being part of last night’s show would have been enough to overcome the shortcomings (and fill-in Phil X was fine). Bon Jovi seems like a genuine, appreciative, kind guy, but at least from my perspective, maybe he arrived last night and forgot to load that six string on his back.
“I’m not gettin’ old. I’m gettin’ dead.” Sixto Díaz Rodríguez, at age 70, standing before an enthusiastic, sold out crowd at The Warfield in San Francisco last night. He took time away from his set of late 60s folk protest rock and some surprising covers to engage the audience, often with humor (and some of it lighthearted and self deprecating) and incredible charm. I don’t know about the rest of the crowd, but if I could have one wish granted at the show, it would probably be to go up and give him a hug. He seems to be quite a sweet character, and beaming with happiness, which was not quite what I expected having his work on rotation for the 2.5 hour drive into the city. With boots, leather pants, black shirt and coat, and his trademark hat and glasses, he stood before us like some kind of elder statesman rock star… long lost and forgotten, that he was there at all playing on stage was as much unlikely as it seemed to be a part of his destiny. Truly an incredible opportunity to experience his music live and in person, I can’t imagine anyone in the room went away anything less that ecstatic with the show.
Live Nation has provided Rock Subculture Journal with a pair of tickets to Killing Joke’s April 19th concert at Irving Plaza in New York City to give away to one of my readers. The show in New York is their first U.S. date and one of just a handful of shows announced for this tour. One winner will be selected at random to receive two (2) general admission tickets to the show, which is part of their world tour currently underway. [Read more…]
Tomorrow tickets go on sale for some of the dates for the upcoming North American leg of the Rolling Stones and their “50 And Counting” tour, starting in California and working their way toward the East Coast. The LA date is TBD due to NBA and NHL playoffs. The rock and roll legends plan to play Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia before returning to England for a few shows there. [Read more…]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs have this week published their upcoming new album, Mosquito, in its entirety, two weeks ahead of the official April 16th release date. In addition, they are at the beginning of a somewhat haphazard tour that will have them playing Coachella and a handful of U.S. dates before heading out for England early next month and then back and forth between Europe & the UK and the U.S. through July. They have already played about 10 shows and festivals thus far in 2013. [Read more…]
The Killers have an incredibly aggressive tour schedule plotted out for 2013, including headlining many festivals as well as their own stand alone shows – all throughout the world, in support of 2012’s Battleborn. The Rock Subculture Journal covered two of the shows in December 2012, the second of which in their hometown of Las Vegas was especially awesome; sadly, they hit bad weather on their way to headlining one of the nights of Caprices Festival in Switzerland last week and were not able to make the show. [Read more…]